ICICI Bank PBT soars 187% in Q3 on growth in interest, other income

ICICI Bank reported a 187.32 per cent jump in its profit before tax (PBT) at Rs 5,465 crore in the third quarter of the financial year 2019-20 (Q3FY20), helped by substantial growth in interest and other income, lower provisions and the resolution of Essar Steel.
 
The private sector lender had posted PBT of Rs 1,902 crore in Q3FY19.
 
Net profit rose 158 per cent to Rs 4,146 crore in the quarter, from Rs 1,605 crore in Q3FY19. The net interest income of the lender saw an uptick of 24.29 per cent at Rs 8,545 crore in Q3FY20 compared to Rs 6,875 crore in Q3FY19.
 
The net interest margin stood at 3.77 per cent in Q3FY20 compared to 3.64 per cent in the quarter ended September 30, 2019 (Q2FY20) and 3.40 per cent in Q3FY19. Non-interest income, excluding treasury income, was Rs 4,043 crore, up from Rs 3,404 crore in Q3FY9.
 
The gross non-performing assets (GNPA) of the bank saw an improvement at 5.95 per cent, compared to 7.75 per cent during Q3FY19 and 6.37 per cent in Q2FY20. Fresh addition to NPAs stood at Rs 4,363 crore at the end of December 2019 as against Rs 2,482 crore in the previous quarter.
 
Recoveries, upgrades and other deletions, excluding write-offs, from NPAs were Rs 4,088 crore in the quarter.
 
The provisions (excluding taxes) declined 51 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2,083 crore in Q3FY20 from Rs 4,244 crore in Q3FY19.

The provision coverage ratio on NPAs, including cumulative technical write-offs, was 85.7 per cent, compared to 76.3 per cent at December 31, 2018, the bank said in a release.
 
Bank executives, in a conference call with the media, said they have classified their exposure to a certain broking company as NPA and made full provisions for it. They have also categorised restructured loans to a South-based industrial company as NPA.
 
Moreover, the fund-based and non-fund based outstanding to borrowers rated BB and below (excluding NPAs) was Rs 17,403 crore compared to Rs 17,525 crore at the end of March 2019 and Rs 16,074 crore at the end of September 2019.
 
There has also been a slight uptick in NPAs in the retail segment owing mostly to adverse effect of farm loan waiver scheme on the Kisan Credit Card portfolio.
 
Its total advances increased 13 per cent YoY to Rs 635,654 crore at the end of December 31, 2019.
 
The lender saw a 16 per cent YoY growth in its domestic advances. The retail loan portfolio of the bank registered a 19 per cent growth while the domestic corporate book saw a 12 per cent rise.
 
Total deposits increased 18 per cent YoY to Rs 7,16,345 crore. It also saw 15 per cent growth in average current and savings account (CASA) deposits, while the average CASA ratio stood at 42.8 per cent.
 
The capital adequacy ratio was at 16.50 per cent and Tier-1 capital adequacy ratio stood at 14.98 per cent on a standalone basis at the end of December 31, 2019.